LGF 6: Bunthörnchen Blitzkrieg
by Rumpelstiltskin und Vladimir
Summary: Jodi and Larry find themselves alone in the valley for a few days when an old yet unknown friend comes to call, bringing with him an old enemy. And to complete the package of chaos, a new pesky annoyance pops up as well. And Tyler pops in a bit to help Larry with Jodi's new "romance". Things don't end well...for some. ;) *COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

**Ah, the beginning of our no-more-chapter-titles thingie. Haha. To be honest, I found this story a bit boring in the end; except the Jodi/Tyler scenario, but that's a later chapter ;). I think Rumpy mighta too. We were both anxious to end it but couldn't figure out how and didn't have the gusto to do it willingly. Anywho, hope you enjoy it.**

***DISCLAIMER* RV makes no claim to own Tremors or its characters. They are the property of S.S. Wilson and ScyFy Entertainment. No profit is made from this writing.**

* * *

Nancy stood in her quaint living room, sifting quickly through her luggage to make sure she had everything she needed. It was just a three day trip, but all the years spent in Perfection had taught her to be careful. She had all of her clothes, toiletries, and other essentials so she sat down, satisfied.

"Finished packing for Arizona?" Jodi asked as she stepped inside the house.

Nancy nodded with a smile. "Yep, I've got everything I need."

Jodi returned the smile and flopped down on the couch. "Well, three down, three to go. Man, I can't believe _everyone's_ leaving for the week."

"Don't worry," Nancy grinned. "Tyler will only be gone for about three days. But be careful, Casey and Roger are going to some college to give a seminar, too, so they'll be gone for a bit."

"All alone with mega-geek for three whole days…" Jodi sighed. "I kinda hope something does show up. Small and manageable, but enough to keep us busy so he doesn't drive me up the walls."

"Careful what you wish for," Nancy warned.

* * *

"Hey, Jodi!"

The store owner looked up from her folders to see someone racing up onto the porch and into the store. "Tyler? I thought you and Burt already left on your assignment."

"Not yet," he replied. "You still got those little gummy drink things?"

Jodi rolled her eyes. "Yes, I still have Jim's Juice, it's in the back."

"Great."

When Tyler made his way back to the front of the store, Larry was quick to approach him. "I was wondering why you are coming back earlier than Burt," the younger man asked curiously. "Do you guys have different assignments?"

Tyler poked him out of the way with his drink. "No, but Burt has to meet some old friend of his in another state, so I'm hitchin' a ride back with Twitch when the job's done."

"In three days?" Jodi asked with a faint smile. "Little specific, don't you think."

"It's a guess," Tyler replied blatantly. "We've only got to take out one worm, easy job."

"How long'll Burt be gone?" Larry asked.

"Just a few more days," Tyler assured him. He waved to them as he left. "See ya!"

Jodi watched as Burt's truck passed by, stopping briefly for Tyler to clamber over the door before heading out of town.

Larry grinned, sitting at the counter. "Wow! That's everyone. Even Rosalita and Harlow are gone."

"Yup," Jodi agreed with a huff of breath.

Larry glanced over her shoulder, seemingly surprised by what he saw. "Hey, look at that. There's a hole in one of you cabinets."

"What?" Jodi whirled and stared at the offending cavity. "Where the hell did that come from, it wasn't there last night. And-" Suddenly her eyes flew open and she quickly yanked the cabinet door open, gasping at what she saw.

Larry leaned over the counter to get a look at what she saw. "What is it?" he asked.

Jodi reached in and pulled out several folders that looked as though they had been violated by mice. "Something ate through the tour records!" She pulled out another folder. "And the Survival School records!"

Larry winced. "Yikes. You think we might have mice here?"

"I do _not_ have mice," Jodi snapped defensively. "Besides, look at this mess. There's hardly anything left of these papers, no way a few mice could do that overnight."

"What do you think did it, then?" Larry asked, inspecting the remains of the paper.

"What do I look like, a rodent specialist?"

Larry shrugged. "We should check your food to make sure... Whatever did this didn't get anything else."

"I check the store every morning, this is it," Jodi replied distractedly, rummaging through the ruined paper work. "Come on, don't tell me they ate the phone number."

"What number, Jodster?"

Jodi let out an exasperated sigh. "I got a call from some high dollar youth group in L.A. who wanted to come out and take the tour for a few days. It was large group and Tyler would've made enough money to pay off that car part he's been complaining about. Except they were looking at coming this week so I said I'd call them back once we had the exact day Tyler would get back."

"I could look up the number for the group on the Internet," Larry offered helpfully. "Most clubs like that have a website or something."

"Amish heritage," Jodi said, shaking her head. "Not hardcore, never-touch-even-a-pager or whatever, but they still don't believe in utilizing much of today's technology. Minus phones of course, but that's sort of a must these days. Heck, they only found out about us because of a newspaper." She sighed heavily. "Tyler's not gonna like this."

Larry frowned. "Geez, sorry to hear that. Maybe we should set up some traps or whatever to make sure whatever little animal did this won't ruin anything else that's important."

"I don't have any traps."

"You're such a pessimist," Larry teased.

"No, I mean I just don't have any traps," Jodi repeated. "But no, I'm not getting any that involve having dead mice my store. They stink."

"How about we get some Have-a-Heart traps?" Larry offered. "They don't kill the mice so we could just let them out into the desert."

Jodi thought a moment. "Do you know if my supplier has any?" she asked, referring to the company who supplied most of her merchandise. They had just about anything one could ask for.

"I don't see why not," he said with a grin. "I could check for you if you'd like."

"Just ask when you pick up today's delivery," Jodi replied, tossing him her truck keys.

About an hour or two later, Jodi was still alone in the store, waiting for Larry to return. Suddenly she heard a car pull up in front of the market. Out of the grey Chevy stepped a tall, pale man with straight black hair reaching his shoulders. A small feline jumped out of the vehicle behind him, twisting affectionately around his legs.

Jodi followed the strange man as he came into the store, the oddly familiar cat trotting behind him like a loyal hound. "Hi. Welcome to Perfection."

The man grinned. "Thank you, love," he said with a smooth British accent. "The name's Randall, Randall Lewis," he introduced himself with a nod.

"Uh- Jodi...Chang," the store owner replied, searching her brain for why that name sounded so familiar. "If you've come for a tour, I'm afraid it's cancelled for the week. The guide's out of town." An odd noise from the cat drew her attention to it again and she suddenly jumped backwards, eyes wide in fear.

"Why do you have a SnatDog?!"

* * *

**The evil SnatDogs have returned...good thing Burt's not here!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Snatty...such a strange name...wonder what he named the rest of 'em? Jeez, now I'm honestly curious! RUMPY!**

* * *

The man chuckled. "Pay no mind to Snatty. She wouldn't hurt a fly," he assured.

Jodi stared at him warily, not the least bit convinced. "Why the hell do you have it?" she repeated slowly and deliberately. "Do you have any idea how poisonous those things are?"

"Of course, sweetheart," he smirked. "All a part of the thrill of owning them. Besides, they are incredibly intelligent and trainable."

Jodi merely glared at him. "I don't want it in my store," she snapped.

"If you insist, though it's inhumane to leave pets alone in cars in this heat," Randall shrugged, leaning down to pick up the tiny cat.

Jodi paused. The tan cat mewed curiously at her. "Snatty here is my best behaved little girl," the man said, stroking the cat.

Jodi hesitated another moment before sighing. "Fine, it can stay, but keep it...restrained or something."

Randall gave her a huge grin. "Thank you, love. We appreciate that," he pulled a small harness and leash out of his pocket. "I anticipated your reaction. Anyway, I was actually coming down here to finally get the chance to personally thank the man who offered me these most unusual felines. A Mr. Norvel?"

"He's out on an errand."

"I guess I'll just stick around until he gets back," he said, placing his now harnessed cat on the floor.

"Would you like something to eat?" Jodi offered, trying to act as though having one of the creatures that nearly killed Nancy sitting in her store wasn't freaking her out at all.

"Sure, I'd love something," he said. "A burger and some fries would be just fine."

"Make yourself comfortable." The Asian turned to busy herself with the cooking.

A few minutes passed while the British man looked around at the merchandise in the store. Soon, Jodi's truck pulled back up in front of the market and Larry came inside carrying a box of supplies.

"Hey, Jodster got the Have-a-" he started before seeing the strange man in the store. "Who's that?" he asked curiously, motioning towards the Brit.

"An old friend of yours," Jodi replied shortly, focusing on the burger.

Larry looked a bit confused and glanced over a Lewis.

"Ah, you must be Lawrence!" Randall said. He walked over, shaking the flustered Larry's hand. "I'm Randall Lewis. We've talked over the phone."

"Oh, oh right!" Larry said with a small smile. "You're the guy I got to take the Snat Dogs."

"And who also turned them into pets," Jodi set the finished plate on the counter. "Would you like a drink?"

"Tea would be lovely, sweetheart," Randall said with a small wink at the Asian store owner.

"Pets?" Larry asked, suddenly hearing Snatty's mew. Seeing the tan cat, he jumped back with a startled cry.

"Apparently, they're trainable," Jodi told him, a hint of sarcastic doubt in her voice.

"Really?" Larry asked, gazing at the feline cautiously.

Randall grinned. "As a German Sheppard."

Jodi scoffed under her breath.

"I'm afraid your girlfriend doesn't believe me, Lawrence," Randall commented, pretending to take offence.

Larry's face grew slightly red. Jodi's went even redder. "I am _not_ his girlfriend!"

His grin grew a bit toothy. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was presumptuous of me."

Jodi just grumbled under her breath, gave him his tea, and disappeared into her personal quarters.

"Thanks, love," Randall called after her with a laugh.

Larry cleared his throat slightly, getting the man's attention. "So, um, Mr. Lewis, what brings you to Perfection anyway?" he asked.

"First, to thank you of course. These little guys are the most incredible creatures I've ever worked with," he answered, making a small motion with his hand that seemed to cue Snatty to leap into his arms. "I also thought it would be enjoyable to take a small vaction out here, though I didn't expect the town to be quite so... empty."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Larry apologized. "Everyone kind of ended up taking their own vacations around now."

Randall smiled towards where Jodi had walked off. "I suppose I could still hang around for a bit."

* * *

Jodi spent the better part of the day avoiding the strange visitor and its eccentric owner, busying herself with laundry, dishes, dusting, and whatever other household chores she made up. She hadn't realized how boring it could be without the others there. It was the next morning before the store owner really saw the man, when he came into Chang's to get breakfast.

"What do you want?" she asked, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Bacon and eggs, if that wouldn't be too much trouble, sweetheart," he said with a bit of a smirk.

Jodi just nodded and went back to basically ignoring him.

"This is quite the quaint little store you have here, Miss Chang," he offered as he sat down at the counter.

"Mhmm."

"Seems pretty courageous living in a place with such unusual creatures," he complimented as his Snat Dog jumped up into his lap.

"You get used to it."

"About how long does that take?" he asked.

The question made her pause. "Actually...not all that long. Everyone just kinda...jumps in."

"Sounds like fun," he said a bit slyly.

Jodi mentally rolled her eyes and set his breakfast of sausage and eggs on the counter. Randall raised a curious eyebrow at her, seeing that his order was wrong. This time, however, he decided it would be best if he actually kept his mouth shut.

Before Randall had a chance to change his mind in the awkward silence, Larry pushed open the door to the store. He held some shredded paper in one hand. "Jodi, look! I think whatever ate your files got to my magazines," he said, looking a bit downcast.

Jodi took the ruined scraps to get a better look. "Are these Star Trek magazines?" She looked closer. "From the 60's?"

He nodded. "Well, they were."

She stared at him for a moment before dropping the pieces of paper back in his hands. "You've officially reached a whole new level of geek. Want any breakfast?"

"Could you make me one of your bacon omelets?" he asked.

"Out of bacon," Jodi said. "Is sausage okay?"

"Sure," Larry smiled, sitting down a seat away from Randall.

Jodi nodded and went back to slaving over her stove. The store was fairly quiet for awhile, Randall busy eating his breakfast and Larry mourning the loss of his magazines. Jodi was just about to hand the finished omelet over when she noticed a small, rather colourful ball of fur running away from the stove, tripping over the large white prize it held in its mouth. She shrieked in surprise, dropping the plate and splattering egg and sausage all over the floor.

"Jodi!" Larry said, surprised. "Are you okay?" He leaned over the counter to see what scared her. Randall dropped his fork at the sound of breaking ceramic and stood up as well.

"A squirrel just stole my eggshells!"

* * *

**Squirrels...I love squirrels...so awesome. ;j;**


	3. Chapter 3

**HELLOOO PEEEERFECTION! WHO TAKES THE GRABOID, TAKES THE VALLEY! BUT BAD NEWS, EVERYONE, 'CAUSE GUESS WHO?! HA! LISTEN YOU LOT, YOU'RE ALL WHIZZING ABOUT, IT'S REALLY VERY DISTRACTING, COULD YOU JUST SIT STILL A MINUTE BECAUSE I. AM. TALKING! Now the question of the hour is, "Who's got the Graboid?" Answer, I do. Next question, "Who's coming to take it from me?" ... COME OOON! Look at me! No backup, no plan, no weapons worth a damn, Oh! and something else; I don't have anything. To. Lose. So! If you're sitting up there in your silly little offices with all your silly, little, dogs, and you've got any plans on taking the Graboid, tonight! Just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, AND THEN!...do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first.**

**Burt Gummer is secretly a Doctor Who fanatic. shhhhhhhhh, don't tell Larry!**

* * *

Snatty leapt after the colorful, furry animal scurrying across the floor. It swerved away from her paws, racing for the shelves. The snat dog continued after it, batting at it in order to get it into a more open area.

"Classic game of cat and mouse, eh, Miss Chang?" Randall asked the store owner with a wry smile.

Jodi's answer was cut off by a loud crash as the rodent jumped up onto the shelves, the feline creature right behind it, knocking off several cans of soup. The Asian glared at the other man as if it were entirely his fault.

Randall just winced at the crash.

The feline fell to the ground with a hiss, meowing angrily as the rodent continued climbing out of her reach.

"Would you _please_ do something about that thing?" Jodi demanded, pointing towards the pet. "I don't need another creature destroying my store!"

"Of course," he responded. He walked over to Snatty, picking her up and gently scolding her.

Larry sighed. "I'll go get the traps."

* * *

Jodi stared at the small hole in her cupboard in boredom, sitting on one of the stools at the counter and wishing the stupid rodents (and Mr. Wacko) would just leave already.

She heard the door open behind her and the sound of boots hitting the floor. She sighed, waiting for the eccentric man's annoying voice to say something that would grate on her nerves.

Instead, the voice nearly made her fall off her seat.

"Awww, who's this little cutie? Jodi, you never said you had a pet squirrel. But how'd it get the rainbow coloured fur?"

Jodi whirled, eyes wide, to see Tyler Reed standing in the doorway, one of the small, pesky, rodents sitting calmly in his hand as he stroked its head gently. For several moments she just stood there, too stunned to move or speak. For one, Tyler was back way too early, and two, he was _petting_ one of the creatures!

Before the door could swing shut behind Tyler, Snatty slinked into the store after him. Jodi's eyes were drawn to the movement and they widened even more. "T-Tyler?" she said, still stumbling over her shock. The tour guide looked up at her curiously. "Before you freak out, I think you should know we got another visitor in town. And he brought one of his...'pets'."

Tyler gave a puzzled frown, looking down as the SnatDog began to rub against his leg. His jumped in surprise, falling against the postcard display and startling both the feline, who shot off under the tables, and the colourful squirrel who crawled up behind his neck to hide in his collar.

"What the hell?!"

Randall decided to enter then. "Snatty! Bad girl running off like that!" he scolded, passing by Tyler and leaning down to peer under the tables.

Tyler stared at the strange man, turning his gaze to Jodi for an explanation.

"Uh, Tyler, meet, Randall Lewis. He's the guy who bought the SnatDogs."

Randall reached under the table and picked up the small cat before turning to look at the tour owner. "'Ello, it's nice to meet you, Mr..."

"Reed. Tyler Reed," Tyler replied, looking the man up and down, his gaze lingering on the animal in his arms. "What's with the SnatDog?"

"What's with the Coloured Squirrel?" Lewis countered, his own glance taking in the small rodent now sitting on top of the other mans' head and peering about with wide eyes.

Tyler looked up briefly. "...Touché."

Jodi shook her head in exasperation. "I have so many questions right now, but first things first. Why are you back so early?"

"Oh, apparently one of the farmers managed to bag the worm before we got there. So we didn't have to stay more than an hour."

"Tyler, you're back!" Larry said, suddenly bursting through the door.

Tyler turned his head to look at him, a faint hint of annoyance in his eyes. "Nice timing."

"Uh, sorry?" he said, slightly confused. "Why do you have one of those little squirrels on your head?"

"One of?" Tyler repeated. He looked back to Jodi. "There's more?"

"Uh, yeah," Jodi pressed her lips together. "Mixmaster's latest creation."

Tyler blinked and pulled the creature down of his head to study it. "Really?" he tickled its stomach and watched it curl up into a little squirming ball. "What happened to the scary?"

"They ate my magazines!" Larry argued.

Both Tyler and Jodi rolled their eyes. "Mice do that too, Larry, doesn't make 'em evil," Tyler replied.

Larry huffed, frowning.

"So besides eating paper, have they showed any kind of violence or anything?" Tyler asked, turning back to Jodi.

She shook her head. "They ate through one of my cabinets and chewed up my documents- which reminds me, they ate the information for that big group that was gonna come out this week."

"The Amish guys?"

"Yeah. I have no way of getting ahold of them now. Stupid rodents ate the phone number," she added, glaring at the one in his hands.

"Aw, she ain't- he ain't stupid," Tyler said, giving the little guy an affectionate pat. "Besides, I have their phone number in my phone already, it's fine."

"You do?"

Tyler frowned at her. "No need to act so surprised. I can organize myself on occasion."

"So, Mr. Reed, you run the tours, correct?" Randall asked.

"Tyler, please, and yes, but I can't take you out without at least three more customers."

"I could pay for the extra tickets," Lewis offered.

"It's mainly a safety thing," Tyler replied, his eyes wary as he remembered the last customers to pay for extra tickets to be "economically viable".

Randall grinned. "I'd be quite willing to invite along Miss Chang and Lawrence, if they would like to come."

Jodi raised a slight eyebrow at the obvious tilting tone when he said her name and shrugged. "Sure, why not? Haven't been on it in awhile."

Larry shrugged, uncharacteristically unenthusiastic.

Randall clapped his hands together, beaming. "Delightful!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so we're nearing the Tyler/Jodi scenario I spoke of earlier. It starts in this chapter, comes to full light in the next one...or is it the one after? I think the next one...whatever, it's coming!**

* * *

Randall grinned at Jodi from across the jeep. "Through my magic and illusionary exploits," he was saying, "I garnered quite a reputation. I also discovered my knack with animals could be applied to my career. They are fantastic in my acts and are often in movies and shows on the telly."

"So you train them all by yourself?" Jodi asked, impressed.

He nodded. "It is quite a rewarding experience. There is little that can compare to having an animal place trust in you."

"Maybe we should have you train El Blanco for us," Tyler joked.

Randall laughed. "It would certainly be a challenge!"

"Yeah, let's see how you stand up against something that dangerous," Larry said, slumped into his seat in the front.

Larry had regretted grabbing the seat next to Tyler the second the tour jeep pulled out of town. Randall had seated himself conveniently close to Jodi and seemed significantly more interested in talking to her than listening to Tyler. He glanced back at the tall Brit again, mentally kicking himself.

In the driver seat Tyler began to explain the event of the SnatDogs as they passed by the little underground town, now mostly filled in as the surrounding ground settled.

"Now I'm curious," Randall grinned, "What exactly is this Mixmaster thing, anyway? Where did it come from?"

"Magic and sorcerers," Larry replied shortly, not bothering to look up.

Tyler cast a sideways glance at him with a raised eyebrow before answering the question. "It's classified information, and even though you own one of the creatures it doesn't give you need to know," he glanced back at him. "You agreed to that when you signed the contract."

"... Of course," Randall responded, a tad bit surprised by Larry's reply. "Can't blame a bloke for trying," he added with a small smirk at Jodi. She gave a small smile in return.

Larry glanced at them once again out of the corner of his eye, sinking lower into his seat. "Tyler," he said suddenly. "I forgot I left something on in my trailer. Can you take me back to town?"

Tyler gave him a curious look. "What did you forget that you need on the tour?" he asked, confused.

"I left something _on_," he restated, as irritated as Larry could get. "My hot plate. I don't want it to start a fire," he lied, just wanting to get out of there.

Tyler caught on to the hidden reason that time, mentally rolling his eyes at himself for not seeing it the first time since Larry had been acting so uncomfortable and annoyed the entire trip. He nodded, turning the jeep around.

"Is there no one in town or closer by you can radio?" Randall asked. "It'd be a pity to end the tour so early."

"No, it's fine," Tyler replied before Larry. "Besides, I think I hear something weird in the engine, I wanna check it out."

Larry had went straight to his trailer, picked a DVD at random from his extensive collection and stuck it in the player. He slouched into his small couch and tried to distract himself with Alien.

Tyler joined him about twenty minutes in, not bothering to knock or even ask, just walked in and sat down on the other end of the couch. It wasn't that uncommon, since they all had each other's keys and they were so close, but Tyler tended to walk in more often than the others did. He didn't do it _too_ often, but it had gotten him in trouble at least once already, walking in on Nancy at an inopportune moment. No one else really knew exactly *what* he walked in on, but Nancy had yelled fairly loud and chased him outside only to drag him back in when she saw the others staring. He didn't come back out for nearly an hour, apparently getting quite the lecture because whenever someone brought it up even vaguely he automatically flinched and wouldn't say a word. The only thing they did know was that Nancy hadn't been in the bathroom or getting dressed or anything, but all that knowledge did was make them more curious as to what _did_ happen.

Luckily, Larry didn't have very many embarrassing secrets for people to discover. Except one...that he could only guess was why the invading tour guide was there.

"Alien, huh?" Tyler asked, reading the back of the case. "Don't think I've ever seen this one."

"It's got Sigourney Weaver," Larry said, keeping his attention on the television.

"Hm," Tyler tossed the case next to him and sighed. "So, apparently Randall wants to take Jodi out for a romantic night in Bixby."

"Huh?" Larry said, whipping his head around to look at him. "R-romantic?" the sci-fi fan stuttered.

"Yeah. He's takin' her to that new fancy restaurant they just built, and then a movie," Tyler smiled. "I took the liberty of helping him choose which one."

"What?" the younger man said, sounding hurt. "Tyler! Why'd you do that?"

Tyler looked at him with innocent confusion. "Sorry. He said he needed a movie that reflected what he thought of her, and asked for my opinion. I just told him the best movie I could think of for the situation."

"B-but, Tyler," Larry whimpered, standing up and running his fingers through his brown hair. "I thought... I thought you knew how..." he trailed off.

"Knew what? That you're madly in love with Jodi?"

Larry hesitated, biting his bottom lip. "Yes," he finally said, looking down at his shoes.

"'Course I already knew that," Tyler grinned. "Why do you think I picked the movie?"

Larry relaxed slightly with a half smile. "What did you choose?"

"A romantic one, of course!" Tyler sat back and turned his attention back to the movie, winking. "What else?"

* * *

**Of course. What else would it be? A horrible movie with gore and violence? Come one, Randall has more class than that!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh look, I found our original rant about our hate of this story...I'll keep it in here for you to enjoy.**

**"R and I officially don't like this story. I swear, it's like DH all over again. *cries* The next (and most likely last chapter) will probably be the definition of crappy writing BUT WE DON'T FLIPPIN' CARE, WE WANT TO LEAVE AND GET TO A BETTER STORY OF FLUFFS, DON'T JUDGE US! *runs away screaming*"**

* * *

Larry woke with a start to angry banging coming from the living room of his trailer. The first thing that came to his mind was that more of those little squirrels had gotten in so he jumped up, prepared to run them off before they could ruin anything else of his. The magazines were more than enough.

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, depending on the view), it wasn't rainbow coloured rodents running rampant in his house.

It was Jodi. She seemed to be on a cleaning frenzy. An angry one, too. Magazines, movies, collectibles, even the posters on the walls were being moved around, dusted, and set down rather violently. It was a miracle nothing was broken.

"Uh, Jode?" Larry asked, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she snapped, her voice dripping with venom and possible intent to kill as she slammed another stack of magazines onto the floor to clean the end-table.

"Then... uh, why are you here?" he asked carefully.

"Your house is a mess."

"But what are you so angry about?" Larry asked. It was no secret that Jodi resorted to cleaning when she was frustrated.

Jodi sent a glare in his direction. "None of your business. Just...go outside or something."

"But this is _my_ trailer!"

The woman whirled around, brandishing the feather duster like a weapon. The anger in her eyes was enough to convince anyone that now was definitely not a safe time to contradict her. Larry put up his hands in surrender, quickly running out of his home and deciding to find Tyler and find out what exactly he had done.

The culprit was leaning against his jeep outside the garage, casually nursing a beer and looking between the store and Larry's house. He didn't acknowledge the refugee until he was within whispering range.

"She in there cleaning?" he asked, his gaze currently on Changs'.

Larry nodded, confused. "Um, yeah. What happened?"

"Mr. High & Mighty laughed at the movie," Tyler replied simply.

"He laughed?" Larry asked, surprised. Tyler nodded.

"So?" Larry asked, not sure why that really mattered.

"So, the movie wasn't exactly 'Asian Friendly'," Tyler explained with a sigh. "I mean, it's not, ya know, _racist_, but it makes fun of them. I'm sure you've seen movies like that, makin' fun of random races or cultures or whatever. Usually in weird humor that's not taken seriously. But…" he paused, the edges of his mouth tightening like he was trying to hold back a smile. "I guess Randall found it a little _too_ funny. Jodi left the movie early. And this morning…well…he tried to apologize…and it didn't exactly go as planned." He couldn't hold back any longer and suddenly started laughing, as if he were recounting a story from a comedy show.

Larry fought back a smile, because he knew Tyler had actually orchestrated this all on purpose. "What happened?"

"Jodi got super pissed," Tyler choked, struggling to regain himself. "I'd only planned for her to get uninterested in him, but he ended up being rather...rude...on his own."

Larry couldn't help but grin a bit. "Did he leave?" he asked, somewhat hopefully.

"Oh, no. No no," Tyler smirked. "He's still in the store."

Larry looked at him, confused as to why he felt that specific part was funny. Tyler shook his head as he started laughing again.

"I'm sorry. I just-….it's too funny!"

It was obvious that Reed wasn't going to be any more help, so Larry left him to his fit and headed for the store to figure it out for himself.

Larry pushed the door open slowly, not sure exactly what to expect. It was empty except for Lewis. The man was sitting forlornly at the counter, his chin resting on one hand while the he held the other seemingly randomly against his face.

"Ummm... hi," Larry greeted awkwardly, stepping closer.

The Brit looked up and Larry could now clearly see the small ice pack he was holding to his right eye. "Hello, Norvel," he replied tiredly.

Larry covered his mouth to keep from smiling or, worse, laughing. "She... Hit you?" he asked, shocked beyond belief.

"Hit?" Randall let out a dry chuckle. "She full-out punched me, boy. Knocked me flat on my arse too."

Larry choked back a snicker. "She's pretty mad. She's cleaning my place, but it seems more like she wants to break everything."

Randall sighed. "It was just a joke. Don't know why she had to take it so serious."

"She's always hated that sort of thing," Larry informed. The other man just grunted.

Larry was about to say more when a green squirrel scurried over his feet, quickly followed by Snatty, causing him to jump back.

Randall glanced up at the man's jerky movement. "What?"

"Another squirrel," Larry mumbled. He suddenly caught sight of another pair on a shelf behind Lewis. "Make that three."

A sudden sound of pattering feet from the roof caused them to look up. Randall frowned slightly. "Is that-?"

Larry sighed, obviously annoyed. "There are so many of them."

An almost pained shout from outside startled both men to the door, momentarily wondering if the squirrels had turned into gremlins.

Instead, they saw Tyler chasing a small group of the rodents who apparently had stolen a few of his papers. His "adopted" squirrel was bouncing behind him as if it was participating in a simple game of Follow-the-Leader.

With a worried look, Larry ran off to attempt to help retrieve the stolen records.


	6. Chapter 6

**It just occurred to me that in all these chapters, never once, now or in the old ones on my account, did I make a comment about Tyler's relationship with his little squirrel friend. Well, I will now. I LOVE IT. It just amuses me so much. ;j; And the scene where he sat on Ty's head? I died a little inside...with happiness.**

* * *

Casey had been back for all of three minutes before she was swarmed with the latest Mixmaster creation- literally. There was an incredible amount of the little multicolored rodents that had been rounded up, and she was now in charge of testing them. Which was difficult, seeing as they were the only living thing she had ever seen that managed to be _more_ hyperactive than Larry.

Tyler was leaning against the wall, watching her struggle with the bouncing balls of fur while his own squirrel (which seemed to have officially accepted him as its best friend or something) sat quietly on his shoulder.

Casey managed to snatch one out of the rather large cage without letting any get away. She let out an annoyed puff of breath as she tried to keep it calm, finally getting it into a smaller cage. Inside was a small amount of food that it immediately began nibbling on.

"That should sedate it in a few minutes for a blood sample," the scientist sighed.

"You think they're dangerous at all?" Tyler asked.

"Oh yes, very," Casey said dramatically. "Just ask all the paper they've shredded."

Tyler made a face at her. "You know what I mean."

She smirked. "As far as I can tell, they are about as dangerous as mice."

"Cool."

Casey grinned as Tyler played with the squirrel on his shoulder. She turned back to the one she put in the cage which was now sedated. She pulled it out gently and extracted a blood sample. Now they just had to wait to see what made up these little guys.

When the results came back, Casey was shocked. The DNA wasn't surprising, just a mix of mouse, squirrel, and parrot, but for some reason the mixmaster in them was... Inactive. "Tyler! Look at this!"

The tour guide looked up, a mix of worry and surprise at her tone showing on his face. "What? What is it?"

"The mixmaster in the squirrels," Casey said. "It's not active. I mean, it's there, but it's decomposing."

Tyler peered down at the screen like a crab. "Is that even possible?"

"It seems to be a chemical found in a certain nut that grows in the valley," Casey said. "It must be a major part of their diet."

"Wait..." Tyler stared at her. "You mean there might actually be a _natural_ way to reverse mixmaster? Permanently?"

"It sure seems that way," she responded, wide eyed. "Roger and I will definitely have to look into it. Have you guys figured out something to do with them? They aren't a threat or anything, but they are quite a nuisance."

"Well, usually we'd put 'em all down," Tyler replied, with a slightly sad look towards his new friend. "But if they aren't a threat in any way, I guess...I dunno, maybe we could sell them as pets to the tourists. Once the mixmaster's out of their system completely, anyway. They're only really bad when there's a bunch of 'em."

"Surprisingly, that doesn't sound like a terrible idea," Casey smiled, petting the squirrel in its cage. "You should go pitch that to Jodi."

"I'll do that now. I got a tour in about an hour, since nothing seems to be blowing up for once, I'd rather not cancel it," Tyler tipped his ball cap in farewell as he headed towards the door. "See ya later."

* * *

The town came into view of Burt as he drove along the road. Things looked normal as he neared, Nancy caring for her garden and tourist milling around outside of Chang's. He parked his power wagon in front of the market and walked inside, hoping nothing bad had happened in his absence. He definitely didn't want a repeat of the Frank fiasco.

Jodi looked up from restocking the cash register as he came in. "Hey, Burt! How was your trip?"

"As expected," he responded. "How were things here? Mixmaster give you guys any trouble?"

"Of course," Jodi replied as if it were the most common thing in the world. "Hey, could you gather up the trash on the tables? There were a lot of kids in the last tour, and the current one is mostly adults so I don't think they'd appreciate the mess."

Burt nodded. "What was it this time? Nothing too destructive I hope," he mumbled, gathering up the garbage.

"Destructive enough," Jodi muttered, mourning the loss of her papers yet again.

Burt frowned, emptying his load into the trash can. "What happened?"

"They're rodents," Jodi explained shortly, giving him a hinting look.

"Ah." Burt bent to pick up another stray piece of trash, opening his mouth to ask Jodi what deadly features they had this time, when a flash of rainbow shot by his hand. Before he had a chance to react, his face was suddenly assaulted by water. He stumbled back with a cry of shock, wiping his vision clear.

He heard Jodi give a startled squeak, saw her eyes widening in slight horror, staring at the multi-coloured squirrel running along the floor. Burt reacted instantly, his hand reaching for his gun before he had even regained his balance. Squirrels weren't supposed to be made of rainbows.

"NO! Burt, wait!" Jodi shrieked, but it was too late. The gun went off, narrowly missing the terrified rodent as it raced for the door.

Pounding feet could be heard outside and a second later Tyler burst inside, looking around wildly. The tourists were clumped together off the porch behind him, trying to peer inside but too scared to move closer.

The squirrel ran straight for the tour guide, climbing his clothes at the speed of light and diving under his coat collar. Tyler's hand went up to his neck in surprise, but a moment later it turned to annoyance and anger as he stared at Burt. The survivalist stared back, confused.

A small tap on his shoulder made him turn and Jodi stood on her toes to whisper in his ear, "I probably should've mentioned this first, but they're just as harmless as regular rodents. And that one's kinda become Tyler's pet."

"….oh."

* * *

**BURT! How could you! Boyo, yer in trouble now. You'll see his punishment in the Next Story: ****Sick Days****! Yeah, it doesn't actually end in an exclamation mark...really, it's full of sad angstness...and happiness...we're doing a ****_proper_**** story that flips between the boys on their assignment or whatever, and the girls in town. WE TAKE IT VERY SERIOUS. :I**


End file.
